Dandy Town 3 Boulevard Blazers 0

Dandy Town capitalised on a missed penalty by Boulevard to advance to the Friendship Trophy semi finals with victory over the Premier Division’s bottom side at White Hill Field on Saturday.

Town came out with aggression early on and Boulevard made it easy for them to find space as they were far too open between defence and midfield.

The scoring started inside ten minutes when Enrique Swan fed Kamali Davis into space on the right flank. The former Paget winger clipped a beautiful cross for Antonio Bailey to head towards goal, but Kelvon Butterfield blocked his effort. Swan did well to pounce on the loose ball and finished confidently past Blazers keeper DeAz Chambers.

Town’s woke up the away side, who started to play with more cohesion and intent, pushing Town back despite allowing their hosts the bulk of possession.

Blazers fashioned their first clear opportunity when Antoine Famous won the ball back with a strong challenge on Quadir Maynard and fed Shaquille Dill. However, he failed to get his strike away as Edry Moore made a vital challenge.

Town doubled their lead from a set-piece against the run of play thanks to some poor Boulevard marking. Nizigh Spence drifted in the corner from the left and Danté Leverock snuck in unmarked at the far post to power his header beyond a motionless Chambers.

Boulevard did not let that additional setback dampen their spirit and they were given a chance to get back into the match when Ian Coke found Walker from the left before he was tripped inside the box by Moore.

Coke stepped up to take the penalty but hit the post. He scored from the rebound but referee Daneon Parchment rightly chalked the goal off as Coke touched the ball twice in succession.

Boulevard had another chance to pull one back just before half time, with quick passing between Ysavier Darrell, Coke and Walker finding the latter in a dangerous position, but the attacker failed to get his effort on target.

Town withdrew Maynard for Amar Lewis at the break as they aimed to impart further control on proceedings. The first 20 minutes of the second half became a battle of attrition, with neither side able to show quality in the final third. But Town then introduced four regular attackers to bring some dynamism to their forward line.

The change worked immediately as substitutes David Jones Jr and Riley Robinson combined before the latter slipped in fellow sub Jahkari Furbert to spring the offside trap. Furbert showed immense composure to take the ball around goalkeeper Chambers, who had rushed out to quellvthe attack, and finish into the empty net.

That moment might have damaged the confidence of the Boulevard team, but they never gave up.

Blazers pushed to grab one back in the final stages and Butterfield glanced a header wide from a driven free kick by Darius Cox.

Town should have had a fourthat the end, when Hayden Dill skipped inside a few Blazers defenders to slip in Jones, and the striker forced a reflex save by Chambers to keep the lead to three.

Scorers

Dandy Town: Swan 9, Leverock 31, Furbert 66

TEAMS

Dandy Town (4-2-3-1): J Hill 6 — L Outerbridge 6, D Leverock 7, E Moore 6, T Webb Jr 6 — N Spence 7, Q Maynard 5 (sub: A Lewis, 46min 6) — A Bailey 6 (sub: H Dill, 64 6), E Swan 7 (sub: R Robinson, 64 5), K Davis 6 (sub: J Furbert, 64 7) — A Simmons 5 (sub: D Jones, 64 6); Substitutes not used: T Smith, J Manders.

Boulevard Blazers (4-2-3-1): D Chambers 6 — K Astwood 5, D Cox 6, K Butterfield 6, J Walker 5 — T Gibbons 5 (sub: I Mallory, 76), A Famous 6 — D Walker 6 (sub: Z Stovell, 76), Y Darrell 5 (sub: J Talbot-Thomas, 58 5), I Coke 5 (sub: K Blyden, 67 5) — S Dill 5 (sub: T Lowe, 76). Substitutes not used: A Williams-Smith. Booked: Cox, Famous, Astwood.

Referee: D Parchment (Jamaica)